Trentino Sviluppo joins the "European Sport-Tech Conversation"
The European Sport Tech Conversation are born from a collaboration between Trentino Sviluppo (Italy), the Global Sport Innovation Centre powered by Microsoft (Spain) and the European Platform for Sport Innovation (Europe). The idea behind the "conversation project" is simple, yet intuitive: The Global Sports Innovation Center powered by Microsoft (GSIC), the European Platform for Sport Innovation (EPSI) and Trentino Sviluppo joined forces with an aim to provide the sports innovation community across the industry with an added value.
The Partner
GSIC https://sport-gsic.com/ - Global Sports Innovation Center powered by Microsoft (GSIC) is a non-profit association supported by Microsoft Sports Team, that brings together all types of sport entities (clubs, federations, associations), institutions, technology companies, from startups to corporations, research organizations, investors and key figures in the sports industry to provide them with values. To do so, we focus our activities and services on 4 main points: entrepreneurship, business network, applied research and showcase. Based in Madrid, GSIC now has more than 200 partners in 30 countries around the world.
The European Platform for Sport Innovation (EPSI) is a non-for-profit European association (ASBL) located in Brussels (BE). EPSI is created with the aim to initiate and kick off activities among its members to respond to regional, national and European industrial and societal challenges. EPSI is a Membership-based networking organisation of Universities, Research Institutes, Clusters, Associations, Federations, Industries and SMEs which focuses on innovation in the area of physical activity/sport, related to Leisure, transport, education, tourism, environment, construction and health in Europe.
Trentino Sviluppo https://www.trentinosviluppo.it/en/Home.aspx is the regional development agency of Trentino (Italy). We focus on sport and sport tech in particular on the basis of a triple/quadruple helix approach with our stakeholders. Education, research, entrepreneurship, innovation and technologies are part of our DNA. We have articulated a strategy for the creation of a Cluster Sport, we are active members of European platforms like ClusSport and EPSI and we profoundly believe that we could surf together the wave of innovation in sport.
The European Sport Tech Conversations
The conversations are an intellectual exploration, an innovation-driven reflection and a forward-looking future-oriented vision for our eco-system. This is a space for the dialogue between the speakers and participants where everyone can share their points of view, their expertise and experiences. There will always be two discussant (one from Trentino Sviluppo and one from GSIC) who will animate the debate and enlarge our perspective but every participant is kindly welcome to share his/her story, his/her ideas and his/her vision. Gender equality is central to the achievement of the European Sport-Tech Conversation and in every session there will be a gender-balanced approach to the debate. The conversations are also recorded with the aim ad with the hope of the curators to create an e-book in the future.
The first session was focused on the Digital Transformation of sports entities and was introduced by an explanation of the philosophy of the European Sport Tech Conversations and by a presentation of the three organization. The GSIC’s General Manager, Iris Córdoba*, offered a Master Class on Digital Transformation, introducing the latest changes in the world’s economy and society that are bringing a plenty of opportunities for industries like tourism, infrastructure and entertainment, and sports are certainly a way of entertainment. Iris Córdoba also overviewed new business models that appeared in the industry with the arrival of the digital. There are some important demographic aspects as well: people are moving from rural places to big cities which once again creates new opportunities for businesses. This is a very important aspect because not only the sports organizations have to understand their fan base, but they also have to bear in mind that the sponsors from whom they get a bunch of revenue, are also looking to connect with those digital natives, so they will associate their partnerships with clubs, teams and leagues that are able to connect with those younger generations.
*Iris Córdoba bio: Born in Buenos Aires, Iris has a Degree in Law from the University of Buenos Aires, a Master's Degree in Administration and Public Policy from the INAP-University of Alcalá, and a Master's Degree in Digital Economics from the School of Industrial Organization. He has obtained the research proficiency of the PhD in Applied Economics from the University of Alcalá. She has developed her professional career linked to the promotion of entrepreneurship, and support of small and medium enterprises from the public-private perspective, both in Latin America and in Spain with a major emphasis on cultural industries, Spanish economy, sports, and entertainment industry. Since the beginning of 2015, she has set up and runs the Global Sports Innovation Center powered by Microsoft, a collaborative initiative between the public, private and academic sectors, which aims to promote innovation in the sports industry, creating an ecosystem that is currently composed of more than 200 companies and institutions that in a coordinated way generate synergies and value projects in the sector. Actively participates as a speaker, mentor and jury in startup competitions and in events linked to sports and technology on national and international levels such as Sports Analytics World Series, The SPOT, TEKAN TEN by Asics, WFStartcup by GSIC, among the others. She is an active member in various forums, such as the CSD woman, the Sports Committee of the Spanish Association of Women Marketing, Soccer in Words from the Miguel de Cervantes Virtual Library or Engagement de Mujeres y Cía. Iris is also a member of World Football Summit Advisory Board. In 2018 she entered the list of Top 100 Famale Leades of Spain in the category Revelation and Entrepreneurs. At the end of 2018, Metadeporte magazine named iris Córdoba one of the 20 most influential women in the sports industry in Spain.
The next conversation will take place on June 20th – for more information please contact sofiya.goncharova@sport-gsic.com or francesco.anesi@trentinosviluppo.it
Quintessential bibliography on recomended readings
- GSIC (future publication/forthcoming), “Digital Transformation of the sports industry in 2025: Envisioning the future”, 2019.
- ASOIF, “The Future of Global Sport”, 2019 - https://www.asoif.com/sites/default/files/download/future_of_global_sport.pdf
- Sport Innovation Lab, “A New Age of Sports”, 2019 https://www.sportsilab.com/#get-report
- ESPI, “Strategic Research & Innovation Agenda 2016-2021” https://epsi.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/EPSI-Strategic-Agenda-web.pdf
- Newzoo, Global eSports Market Report. 2019.
- Deloitte, The stadium experience. Keeping sports fans engaged – and loyal, 2019.
- PwC, Sports industry: lost in transition?, 2018
- Goldman Sachs, The world of eSports. From wild west to mainstream. Goldman Sachs, 2017.
